By the Rules
by Sakagami Rose
Summary: Everything about his day was straying as far away from typical logic as possible. Then again, C.C. always did seem to have a bizarre talent for reducing all of Lelouch's predicted expectations to nothing. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **Finally, I wrote something with my OTP! This takes place before the ending of the first season, so none of the events that happen during or around the finale have occured here yet. We're still in the good old innocent days here...enjoy!

* * *

><p>There's a natural order for everything in this world. Pride always comes before the downfall, and with mistakes, there always comes regret. Feelings lead to action, and with that action comes an inevitable decision of what to feel next.<p>

Going by this rule, Lelouch concluded, offering a freshly ordered pizza to a certain bottomless-stomached, green-haired witch would without a doubt result in the meal being abruptly snatched from his grasp, or toppled on the floor in the least. Yet, there he was, holding a brand new box of Pizza Hut only inches away from the girl's face, being profusely rejected, ignored, for what seemed to be the more amusing sight of raindrops sticking to the window. If there ever were an occurrence more out of place in this world, he thought, it would sure as hell be the one unfolding right before him.

"...Come again?"

"I'm not hungry."

He popped open the lid of the box letting the aroma of the pizza fill the surrounding area. "I just ordered it."

"I don't care."

"I'll have it all to myself then-"

"Go ahead."

A pizza slice was held up towards her face in a last-ditch effort. "See? Pepperoni. I assume it's your favorite since it's all you eat, really..."

No movement whatsoever. "I don't want any."

"...If this is because of that one time I ordered the low-calorie vegetarian pizza by mistake-"

"Look, Lelouch, I just don't want any pizza right now, okay?"

The Britannian teen could hardly keep his mouth from going agape as she rolled herself over on the couch, clearly uninterested in anything Lelouch, or the pizza for that matter, had to say or do. He was left standing there, now profoundly perplexed with an almost comical look on his expression on his face, he could say, if he didn't find the entire situation so plainly horrifying. C.C. lacked a reaction altogether, or simply chose not to show one, and snuggled further within the blanket she had encased herself in all day. The girl had been uncharacteristically quiet ever since she awoke, only arising to solemnly drag herself from Lelouch's bedroom to the living room couch at the start of her morning. Nunally took notice of C.C.'s odd behavior before Lelouch, and had been prompt in approaching her dear older brother about refraining from _upsetting poor C.C._ and had _strongly suggested _that he buy her a pizza to makeup for whatever mental torture he was putting her through. It was these kinds of misunderstandings that made Lelouch wish he wasn't the only male in a house of two demandingly cute women who could set him into action with just a mere pout.

"Are you sick or something?" He raised an eyebrow and quickly straightened himself up, setting the rejected pizza slice on the coffee table with its original box. This was getting to the severity where it was truly making him worry.

"Lelouch, I'm immortal." Evidently, C.C. wasn't so concerned.

"I know that! But you can still get sick, can't you?"

"..."

"Have you even eaten anything since yesterday?"

"..."

It took a few minutes of awkward silence before Lelouch figured out that she probably wouldn't deign herself to answer him even if it cost her life. He sighed and took a seat next to her lax form on the couch, nonchalantly grabbing the remote and flipping through random channels.

"I thought I told you to go away."

A response.

Inner Lelouch did a victory dance. A very manly one, of course.

"You know better than anyone that I don't take orders well, C.C."

"Just leave me alone."

"Not until you tell me what's really wrong with you."

C.C. seemed to stiffen a bit at the last comment but caught herself quickly and turned to face him, wearing an icy glare that could only best be described as demonic. "Go. Away."

Lelouch shuddered a bit at the intensity of the glower directed at hm, but soon turned back to face her coolly. "Make. Me."

The Geass holder felt the corners of his lips crook upwards in a devilish, lop-sided smirk, awaiting the guaranteed backfire caused by challenging the ever-confident witch. Truthfully, he wasn't sure why he had made the foolish decision of provoking her there; maybe he had wanted to test the waters, just to initiate some sort of acknowledgment or repercussion from her. He wouldn't even mind if she had kicked him square in the face right then, he would've expected that somewhat.

What he _didn't_ expect was for C.C. to wordlessly remove herself and the blanket from the couch, march straight towards the entrance to Lelouch's room, and then slam the door before locking it tightly as she flew in. Unfortunately for him, this scenario is exactly what happened, exiling a very baffled prince on the sofa, his blank eyes staring at a TV station his mind couldn't care less about processing.

This sort of behavior was just...not like C.C. at all.

She was the kind of entity that wouldn't do so little as to as take 'no' for an answer, the kind that loved mischief and watching it play out as it befell everyone else surrounding her. The C.C. he knew would've gone all out in every little attempt to appropriately remove him from her former domain on the couch, even if it meant blowing herself and the couch up first. But hey, all that mattered was that he got the message of 'Go away' understood correctly, right?

More importantly, the C.C. he has com to recognize would _never_, under any circumstance given, turn down a fresh slice of pizza.

Lelouch's brows furrowed in deep concentration, a free hand resting underneath his chin as he mentally formed a list of all the likely occurrences that could possibly make the girl act so bizarre.

He already questioned her about the chance of illness, and had yet to receive a definite reply in return, so that option wasn't completely out for the count.

Maybe he had said something to upset her...? He quickly shook his head. That couldn't be it; C.C.'s sensitivity was practically nonexistent; she could take on even the brutest of insults and toss them back even harsher than preceded.

Was it plausible for someone to be issuing some strange threat out to her that they would de-fluff Cheese-kun if she continued to eat inhuman amounts of Italian cuisine each day-

He almost laughed. His mind was getting completely off-track in this pointless listing of sorts. Lelouch groaned and slouched down on the couch, absently soaking in the fading warmth the witch's body had previously created. He hazily noted how comforting the feeling of being nestled in the leftover heat was, then abruptly sat back up, his cheeks flustered with the tiniest tinge of pink. This entire issue must be more stressful than he assumed if he was starting to mindlessly curl up on the couch like some common housecat fantasizing of their owner's touch. One thing was certainly clear though: he needed to find out what was bothering C.C. as speedily as possible.

He was about to settle for the presumable explanation of PMS before he was jolted out of his thoughts by a knock on the door.

"Lelouch? You in there?"

Suzaku. Just great.

Of all the times in the world for his childhood friend to show up, it had to be in the middle of his mental breakthrough.

"Is this a bad time?"

No, Suzaku. Of course not.

"...Hello?"

Lelouch figured he should probably respond before the poor guy called the police to come break the door down, or no, he concluded, Suzaku probably would've just kicked the door down himself at that point. "I'm coming, hold on."

He feigned ignorance and slid the door open, revealing an blatantly cheerful Suzaku holding what seemed to be a struggling cat in his arms. Upon closer inspection, Lelouch identified the raging mass of fur as Arthur, and he could almost say he felt pity for the thing, desperately trying to claw out of Suzaku's firm grip with a look that could easily convince onlookers he was being held by death himself.

"...You do realize he's gnawing on your hand right?"

The Japanese teen grinned casually as if he was being asked the weather. "After a while, your hand just gets numb."

His pity immediately switched over to Suzaku.

"So you came here to see Nunally, then?"

His friend exhaled a bit and threw him a warm-hearted gaze. "Come now, you know I came here to see both of you tonight. It's fun, hanging out like we used to."

Lelouch fought the oncoming surge of nostalgia and led the knight and the neurotic feline in, making sure to double check the room for any traces of C.C. beforehand. (He did slip up once in that aspect...leading to a very uncomfortable moment where Suzaku had seen various bras in his underwear drawer upon entering his room.) Not long after, Nunally came wheeling in, beaming with delight as she whirled over to Suzaku's direction. He sometimes swore his little sister had a built-in Suzaku radar installed or something, with the way she managed to track him down so efficiently. The three of them immediately fell into aloof conversation, Suzaku plopping the ever-grateful Arthur into Nunally's arms, letting the girl coo over the animal as her seemed to make her burst into giggles with every stupid comment or interaction with the cat.

Lelouch observed the two fondly; Suzaku always did appear to have some type of magic when it came to women. It was no surprise to him when he had heard the news that the brunette had gotten Princess Euphemia herself to fall head over heels for him. Twirling the theory around his mind a bit, Lelouch came to a striking realization.

He blinked and slowly glanced back at the scene of Suzaku frantically trying to rip a delirious Arthur off his his face while Nunally sat not far beside him, laughing her tiny head off.

Suzaku could guild him in fixing this entire dilemma with C.C.

Ever since they were younger, the two had always been each other's exact opposite: Lelouch excelled in areas where Suzaku was lacking, and vice versa. That was one of the reasons why they had become so close, he supposed; they could easily make up for their weaknesses.

And in this particular predicament, Lelouch was especially grateful for that fact.

Dealing with women never came quickly to Lelouch (despite the fact that he was constantly surrounded by them for some reason), and yet, for Suzaku, it came as naturally as breathing. He could carry on an endless conversation with a girl he had just met and by whatever strange occurrence, she'd be swooning over his feet towards the end of the day.

It only took five minutes of verbal exchange for Lelouch to say something stupid and get his female companion to undeniably hate his his entire being.

If he was lucky, he'd get left with only a red mark on his face from the slap. Which is why, in this case, he had to swallow his pride and do the unthinkable.

Lelouch vi Britannia was going to ask for help.

All he had to do was choose his wording carefully, and he could make the entire process as painless on himself as possible. And besides that fact, he had to accomplish getting his message across without revealing that the girl they had found on that fateful day was in truth an immortal witch bunking at his house for no apparent reason other than she wanted to stay there.

...This might be harder than he thought.

Nevertheless, he waited until his sister had decided to leave the room then turned to Suzaku with the strongest brave face he could muster.

"Suzaku...can I ask you something?"

The Knight looked up from prying off the cat attached to his arm and focused on Lelouch curiously. "Sure what's on your mind?"

Inner Lelouch cringed. "I need advice."

Suzaku's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "_You_ need advice..." He choked out incredulously. "From _me_?"

Inner Lelouch facedesked. "Yes."

"What do you need advice about?"

Inner Lelouch would've shot himself if he could. So much for 'painless'. "...Women."

This was when Suzaku's jaw hit the floor. "Are you serious?"

"...Yes."

The brunette let out a deep breath and hunched over his lap, taking on an expression of heavy consideration. "Alright." He centered up, though Lelouch chose to keep his head downcast out of sheer humiliation. "What can I help you with?"

The former noble took a deep breath. "Okay, so let's say Euphie is acting completely different from her usual self, like, going around shooting people-"

"What?"

"_Hypothetically_, Suzaku. So you go to ask what's wrong with her, and she just ends up locking herself in your room."

"Since when does she know where my house is?"

"Just play along. Now, in these circumstances, what would you have done?"

Suzaku looked like he had just been thrown an extremely complex algebraic equation. "Well..." He soon changed demeanor, probably deciding that he should try and assist his friend as best as he could, regardless of the outlandish questioning proposed. "First, I would get her something or do something to appease her to leave the room."

Lelouch began mentally taking notes of every word as if they were the last sounds that would ever leave Suzaku's mouth.

"Then..." He wavered thoughtfully. "I'd probably try comforting her somehow, since she'd most likely be under a lot of stress if she's desperate enough to start shooting random people as a let-off..."

The raven-haired teen wondered why he had ever brought up the topic of Euphie becoming a mass murderer.

"And afterwards..." Suzaku shrugged. "I'd just tell her how much I cared about her and...uhh...make she she never got hold of a gun again..."

Lelouch frowned at the last bit of his companion's advice. He couldn't use that same approach with C.C., considering his relationship to her wasn't as romantic as Suzaku and Euphie's were. They were just...accomplices. Friends, even. It seemed as if their connection towards each other was changing on a daily basis, especially concerning his own emotions...

He felt his face begin to heat heat up again and immediately pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. What was wrong with him?

He didn't need to struggle with his hormones going out of control right now, he had bigger issues to deal with.

"Lelouch, now, I want you to be honest with me here..."

For the first time in the whole conversation, Lelouch rotated up to face Suzaku, a look of pure dread plastered on his face.

_Shit_...the Britannian quickly prepared responses to the unanswerable interrogation Suzaku was about to press on him. He could just say he was having issues with one of the girls at school, but then he had no doubt Suzaku would run up to the girl himself and 'fix' the matter for his dear friend. Telling Suzaku his mystery girl was a secret wouldn't turn out in his favor either, considering it would end in destruction by Suzaku letting everyone know 'in secret' that Lelouch had a backdoor girlfriend...

"It's Nunally isn't it?"

Jolting out of his panic, Lelouch zoned back in on the Japanese teen who had been rambling on earlier during his previous mental tirade. "...What?"

Suzaku chuckled a bit, relaxing on the couch. "This 'mystery girl' you wanted me to give you advice on...you're having issues with your little sister, aren't you?"

Lelouch stared blankly back at the Kururugi for a minute, then visibly slackened altogether. So that was it...Suzaku assumed he just needed help dealing with _Nunally_...he would cry tears of joy if he could.

Suzaku oddly enough took the silence as some sort of agreement to his previous statement and smiled before continuing his analysis. "You could've just told me you were having a fight with Nunally, you know." He laughed, slightly, his green eyes glittered with amusement. "For a minute there, I thought you actually had a girlfriend!"

Suzaku continued laughing and Lelouch felt his eye twitch at the implication. Was it _really _that unbelievable for him to have a girlfriend?

The brunette calmed his laughter down steadily and began to compose himself once more. "So what's the deal?" As if curtly understanding something, his face suddenly blanched pale. "Oh god...Nunally's not really off shooting people, is she?"

It was at that destined time that the girl in accusation decided to make her reappearance, thankfully saving Lelouch from formulating some absurd story to convince his friend of their nonexistent sibling tensions. Despite that, he concluded it would be in his best interest to quietly sneak out of the room as Suzaku hurled himself over to Nunally, falling to his knees hysterical as he rambled on to the extremely confused girl about her lost innocence. He would have to treat his sister to an especially nice dessert if she managed to pull through for him on this one...

His feet came to an abrupt stop as he approached his bedroom door, his brain replaying Suzaku's suggested course of action. He needed to get something to coax C.C. out of the room first. Gradually, he sagged down to the floor, his back lent up against the wall while his head sunk over his knees in hopeless frustration.

He couldn't come up with anything she'd want. Buying her pizza definitely wouldn't work, and other than that, he failed to think of a single item.

Then again...his head jerked spontaneously, the wheels of creativity finally beginning to set in motion. All he had to do was convince the witch to leave his room, in whichever way manged to succeed.

And success for Lelouch...usually made in arrival by way of speaking.

If he could just smoothly talk C.C. into wanting to come out, he would be all set. Readying his seller points, he confidently strode up to the door, knocking effortlessly on the wood twice before clearing his throat. "C.C.?"

"..."

...So she was ignoring him. He was prepared for that.

"Look, I just wanted to say that you don't have to tell me why you're upset, but just make sure to keep it on your conscience that _poor_, little Nunally is starting to get concerned, and now, she's just lumped up in a corner of the room, staring at the wall while questioning her existence to you-"

"Hey, Captain Idiot. The door is open now, you know."

And with that remark went crashing an hour's worth of witty, guilt-inducing speeches involving the entire world going on depression medication because of her untimely lockdown in his room.

Of all the outcomes that could have realistically happened, C.C. just _had _to unintentionally pick the one that he hadn't blueprinted for at all.

She had this uncanny habit of twisting his life's plans around unconditionally, it seemed.

"Are you coming in or not?"

Lelouch grimaced and inhaled briefly, bracing for the worst as he started creaking the door open.

Here goes nothing.

"I thought you had locked yourself in here?" He uttered lamely, his eyes drifting to the bed at her motionless figure under the covers. His covers.

"Why would I keep it locked?" She scoffed, her body tossing over a bit to the side. "This isn't my room."

He rolled his eyes and cautiously took a seat on the bed, haphazardly waiting for the incessant protests of his presence being so near to her. He felt the tension in his muscles peacefully slip away as no such dissent arose.

"Oh, really? You never had a problem sporadically claiming my things as your own before." He teased, hoping to dissipate the awkward atmosphere between them, even if only a little.

C.C. shuffled a bit, her pile of blankets scooting a few inches away from Lelouch's spot on the bed.

He blinked, trying again to keep the conversation going. "Not to mention the pizza bill on my credit..." He mused, reminiscing on his last discussion with C.C. about overloading his credit card with pizza orders, which, strangely enough, ultimately ended in him buying the girl her own card. Funny, how occasions such as that always inadvertently turn-tabled into him acting on C.C.'s best interest as opposed to his own.

Her figure appeared to retract together in a tiny huddle of blankets as she hesitantly uttered out as more than a mumble: "Sorry."

Lelouch could merely gawk and stare at the scene unfolding before him.

C.C. was _apologizing_? To _him_?

And, for what, an offense so trivial as stealing his stuff? Something was wrong here, very wrong.

So as in any extremely screwed up situation, Lelouch did what any average teenage male would do: he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"I don't understand."

At this, the witch removed the covers from her head, troubled eyes blazing at Lelouch with an emotion he couldn't read. "Do you hate me, Lelouch?"

The query was transferred, calmly, as if more of a declaration, but her entire being teetered on the edge of a breakdown. Lelouch, becoming more confused than he had ever felt in his eventful seventeen years of life, just met her eyes, uncertain what to say next. Quickly assessing her now, it was given that one slight slip of the tongue could activate some sort of emotional land mine.

"Do you think I hate you? Is that what this is all about?"

"Answer the question. Do. You. Hate. Me."

"Honestly, what kind of question is that?"

"An important one!" She lashed out, quickly sitting up, her vision flaming at Lelouch while her fists angrily clutched at the bed sheets.

He nervously ran a hand through his hair, his mind irresolutely trying to come up with the right words to say. "No, C.C. I don't hate you."

She said nothing. Her golden eyes blinked once at Lelouch's violet ones, shining with an unspoken tremor, then in less than a second, her head was sullen, her sight focused solely on the silken bed sheets beneath her. Avoiding him.

Avoiding _her _though, was much easier said than done. Lelouch was frozen, only able to watch her as the moonlight bounced off her trademark emerald hair, the way her tiny ivory nightgown complemented her shapely body without somehow revealing most of it at all. Her thin eyebrows subtly creased towards her forehead while her half-lidded eyes shined with a delicate melancholy that made her image seem almost ambrosial. He was enraptured unable to control the mind in which he so marveled in. Before he even realized the action himself, his arm slowly rose up from his side, reaching out to touch the lone tear that glided down her porcelain face.

C.C. immediately flinched back at the sudden brush of his fingertip, her hand flying up to grab his own before she smoothly lowered their hands in a strained hold on the blanket. Lelouch could do nothing but tense up at the rushed contact, his conscious rocking out of its previous daze to process the rejection that had just been unleashed upon him as he glanced down at their joined fists. He halfheartedly expected her to release his hand as swiftly as she had taken it away, but his face contorted with pliable wonder as she gingerly interlaced her fingers with his, the simple touch making him as if his heart had stopped dead. The girl brought her head up to face Lelouch once again, her expression overtaken by a mild vulnerability he would've never expected to be found on the ever-fearless facade of C.C. She parted her lips hesitantly, as if forcing herself to speak to him.

"What am I to you, Lelouch?"

He shifted distraughtly on location, his inner workings thrown into complete and utter chaos at the simple question tiredly reverberating throughout his ears. As much as he admonished himself not to admit to it, he knew the exact answer to that question, and had known it for a long time now; it was that same definite answer that continually pushes itself to the front of his mind whenever he spent time with the captivating witch. It was that same clear-cut truth that had made his face turn all kinds of red whenever her snug body unconsciously brushed against his during the coldest nights of the winter or the way he insatiably craved for more of her spark as she broke away from a slight, dutiful kiss of their contract, his entire being aching for hers and hers alone. She could cause him to feel as if he were floating simply by flashing him a single, rare smile that she formed a habit of showing to only himself; and no other person could make the infamous Zero weak to his knees like she did when she rested an arm on his shoulder, knowing the exact right thing to say to continually push him forward in his conquest for an independent Japan.

Ever since C.C. had entered his life, he found it impossible to imagine his life without her presence by his side again. She meant so much to him, and although it was never spoken aloud, she was one of the most precious people to his existence, and if not, was starting to become the most precious. It was killing him all day to see her as upset as she was, and even more so that she had pointedly been staying away from him. For that reason, he had made it his absolute goal to settle whatever was wrong with her.

In everyone's lifetime, there comes a moment where you have to make a choice, one that could change your total purpose as you knew it. With that decision, there always came an inevitable outcome, just as with the natural order of everything else.

Luckily for Lelouch, that moment just so happened to come now.

What he would say to C.C. here and then could change their whole relationship completely, and whether for the better or for the worse, he had to take a risk and tell her something. It was the unwritten rule of things.

'Then again', he thought as he inclined forward, his body slowly closing in on her, 'I never did play by the rules.'

Without a word, his arms soothingly wrapped around her delicate figure, drawing her head close to his pounding chest, near enough to hear his heart beat. His head readily dipped down towards her own, his face affectionately nestled in her hair as he longingly breathed in her company.

C.C.'s eyes widened in shock, her cheeks colored with a fitting blush as she rested her face against the warmth of his body, listening to the rapid beating of his heart. She paused, her eyes gradually relaxing shut as she focused on the constant echoes in his chest. Allowing her arms to fondly encircle around his firm torso, she let her entire guard crumble down, cuddling as closely to his entire being as she could, not afraid of the tears flowing out of her eyes. Lelouch felt as if something was ripping at his core watching her cry softly like that, and held her tighter in his grip, desiring to comfort her as best he could provide. C.C. let out a whispered sob, clamped onto the fabric of his loose shirt as though he'd quickly disappear the moment she mistakenly released him.

"I didn't want to admit it to myself." She choked out, pulling away slightly for a minute. "I didn't want it to happen again...I didn't want you to become another Mao."

The witch visibly stiffened, tentatively moving in to softly caress Lelouch's face in her hands. He tilted his head scarcely, his own eyes filled with a subdued surprise as he noticeably melted in the soothing graze of her skin across his cheekbones. "I care about you too much to let you become torn apart like that because of my foolish emotions."

"C.C., I-"

She shook her head dismissively, unwinding her hands back down at her side. "I thought that maybe if I kept my distance from you for a while, the feelings would go away...I wanted you to hate me. I tried so hard to keep you out of my mind, but being with you here now, I realized that I just...I couldn't do it." She buried her face in a nearby blanket, desperately pulling it up to hide the raw emotion displayed on her immortal veil. "For that...I'm sorry, Lelouch...I'm so sorry..."

The cloth was shortly seized from her grasp, and the girl could barely process it as a hand tenderly slid under her chin, steadily tilting her head upward to face his intense amethyst eyes.

"C.C., listen to me. I will _never_ turn into Mao. I'm going to find a way to fix everything for you...I promise." He offered a weak smile, the pinky finger of his unoccupied hand lifting up in waiting to greet hers.

She lingered, letting out a light sigh of amusement as she rubbed her face to limply recollect herself. "You want to make a pinky promise with me? You really think you can solve the impossible?"

Lelouch smirked, a troublesome glint littering his eyes. "I've attained the unattainable before...I don't see why I can't do it again." He observed her for a moment, his features visibly softening. "I am Zero, after all."

Their fingers intertwined, sealing the two together in a contract, one much in contrast to that of the other that had brought them together in the first place. The Geass Holder Contract had brought him power, and had endlessly resulted in destruction, pain, and loss.

This silent, symbolic contract...it was different.

It would bring him no power in particular, and it would result in C.C. being able to live on, or, desist living on, without constant burden attached to her shoulders. Even more than that, this tiny action would result in something he had only been able to deny as her meaning to him developed into much more than could ever understand...

"I love you, C.C."

If he had thought the shock on her face when she heard of the giant pizza was unbelievable, than it was _nothing_ compared to the awestruck stupor she was sporting right now. She sat there like a deer in headlights, staring wondrously at Lelouch as if he had just grown two horns and exclaimed he was going to become a professional athlete. A large blushed spread over her face, as did Lelouch's, thought he fidgeted around awkwardly as she continued to keep him under her dead-lock gaze.

He was just open to open his mouth to say something when she suddenly snapped out of her hypnotic trance, whacking the distraught prince in the head with a surprisingly painful pillow. The hit sent him flying to the side of the bed with a yelp, his back slapping against the mattress as he rubbed his cotton-assaulted head. Before he could even gripe or complain about, C.C. frantically crawled over his sprawled out figure, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

"Idiot!" She wailed, her body relaxing on top of the very flustered Lelouch as she nuzzled her head into his shirt. "Why did you wait so long...to tell me that?" She sniffled, the tight hold she had on his torso again telling him that she wouldn't be persuaded to let go anytime soon.

He let out a resigned sigh, holding her affectionately as he pulled himself up a little off the bed. "Guess I won't be claiming that 'Best Boyfriend Ever' title now, huh?"

She turned up to look at him teasingly, pretending to consider the idea thoughtfully. "Not the best ever, but..." Leaning forward, she playfully tapped him on the nose. "You're my favorite."

Whatever she might have wanted to say next, Lelouch wouldn't hear. He wasted no time as he brought her even closer to him, his lips crashing against hers with a gentle passion that had been waiting to be fulfilled from the moment he walked into the door. C.C. blinked in surprise, then quickly deepened the kiss, parting her own lips as she ran her hands through his recently scuffled up hair.

Lelouch absently wondered to himself as he ran his fingers over the smooth skin across her back, his body too caught up in the passion of the moment to care about his disheveled appearance, why it was that her body fit against his so perfectly.

So maybe buying five boxes of pizza, convincing your childhood friend that your sister's a cold-blooded assassin, and impulsively admitting you're in love with an immortal witch isn't exactly a typical order of doing things; he mused as she quietly broke away from the kiss, her lips now crooking upward in a genuine, one of a kind, Lelouch only smile.

If he could see that smile at the end of the day, then it was all worth it.

After all, since when did Zero ever play by the rules?


End file.
